Rope-guide device



Feb. 5 1924. 1,483,031

D. M. WINANS ROPE GUIDE mavmis:v

Filed July 21. 1923 wflfisszs. .Dmm. M, WiNANS. INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY W QM-- Patented Feb. 5, 1924.

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ROPE-GUIDE DEVICE.

Application filed July 21, 1923. Serial No. 653,003.

To all whom it may concern:

" Be it known that I, DANIEL M. WINANS, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Binghamton, and the county of Brooms,-

and the State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in RopeGuide Devices, of which the following is a specification. v

My invention relates to a'novel article of manufacture and its object is to provide a simple and inexpensive rope guide for awnings and similar purposes. When applied to an awning fabric, the guide serves to maintain the actuating ropes in proper alignment whenever the awning is raised or otherwise manipulated thereby.

This improved rope guide comprises a loop strap of circular contour which serves as the guide element for the rope. The loop strap is preferably-corrugated and the end portions thereof are formed into'abutments adapted toclose said loop. A further important element of the present invention resides'in' an integrally formed foot flange for the strap made to bear snugly against the fabric to which it is fastened. The foot flange is provided with clinch prongs that pass through the fabric and engage with a keeper plate disposed upon the opposite side of said fabric.

Embodied herein are also other features of structureand organization designed to facilitate manufacture and the ap )lication of said rope guide, all ofwhich wil be set forth in detail herei'naften.

Reference is had to the accompanying one sheet drawing which illustrates an example of the preferred form of my invention like characters" of reference indicate like parts in theseveral views, and in which draw Fig. 1., represents an "awning equiptwith my improved guide device for awning Fig. 5., shows a detail of the loopstrap Fig. 2., is an elevational side View of my assemble'drope guide and keeper plate as provided with integral foot flanges and clinch prongs as formed prior to assembling same on the fabric.

Fig. 6., represents a projected bottom view of Fig. 5., and shows further constructive details of the preferred foot flange design.

Fig. 7., shows a modified construction detail of the loop strap.

Fig. 8., is a sectional view taken along line 2-2 of Fig. 7. I

Fig. 9., shows a modified foot flange construction and method for fastening the rope guide to the fabric.

Referring first to Fig. 1., the letter A, represents the curtain portion of an awning fabric of conventional construction, mounted upon the usual U shaped frame rod with parallel leg portions such as B hinged at C to a common rear wall structure D. The cross bar B of said frame rod mounts the lower .end of the curtain fabric A, which then extends obliquely upward and is'suitably fastened to the wall structure D at a point above the hinge C, as indicated.

A plurality of actuating ropessuch as E, and E are tied to the cross-bar B and these ride over their respective pulleys G,

and G mounted upon the wall D. These ropes serve to raise or lower said curtain about the hinge C in the customary manner.

Each such rope is provided with a series of assembled rope guides. Asapplied to the rope E said guides are designated as F F etc., and they hold the rope in proper alignment withrespect to the fabric when raising the curtain A It is preferred to so space the guides upon the fabric that the actuatingrope E may readily conform to the folds that occur when the cross-bar B is drawn into its upright position.

Referring now to Fig. 2., which shows in detail an assembled guide device such as was previously designated by the letters F F etc. The guide proper comprises a loop strap of circular con-tourG, which loosely surrounds the rope and allows it to slip freely through said guide strap, This loop strap is preferably formed from a strip of sheet metal bent into a loop or band shape. The end portions of said strap G may be fashioned into abutments Gr and G by sharply bending the sheet metal away from its circular contour in an approximately ra- 1 dial direction to the axis of the loop, as

shown in Fig. 5.

It is preferred to manufacture the unassembled loop strap so that its abutting faces G, and G stand open or apart somewhat as indicated in the last named figure. Formed thus, the resilient loop strap G may readily be sprung together so as to bring the short radial faces G and G, into abutment and thus close the loop strap when assembled as in Fig. 2.

As is best shown in Fig. 5, each end of the metal strip forming the described abutments G and G is further bent outward at approximately right angles to the respective radial faces so as to form the oppositely disposed foot flanges G and G When the assembled loop strap is sprung together, both of said foot flanges are intended to lie in a common plane and bear evenly and snugly against the fabric A I The described abutting radial faces G, and G are'purposely sharply defined herein in order to clearly disclose the type and style of the loop structure underlying the presentinvention. It will be evident, however, that either or both of said abutments may readily be rounded off to such an extent as to lose the identity of these elements. No serious detriment in the use of the rope guide would result therefrom, since the more essential elements of the present invention reside in the described relation of the loop strap to the foot flange and the mode of fastening same to the fabric.

The foot flanges G and G: are each further provided with clinch prongs G and G respectively, which prongs are preferably formed integrally and sharpened as shown. These prongs are intended to pierce and clinch the fabric A, as indicated in Fig. 2.

In order to secure a substantial andstiif tie to the fabric, the foot flanges are made to engage with a common keeper .platel-I. As shown in Fig. t, this plate has two slotted perforations H and H suitably spaced to receive and engage with the clinch prongs G and G respectively.

It is pointed out that the perforations H and H are so spaced as to require the unassembled abutting faces G and G to be brought together somewhat before the prongs G and Gr can enter their respective perforations in the keeper plate H. The assembled loop strap G is thus held, in a sprung relation by the keeper, whereby the combined clasp structure is locked to give it increased stiffness and stability for the purpose intended.

As shown in Fig. 2, the keeper plate H is mounted on the opposite side of the fabric with respect to the flanges G and G The plate is made considerably longer than the pitch between the prongs, to reinforce its gri on the fabric and to serve as a common washer seat against which to clinch the free ends of the prongs G and G Referring now to Fig. 3, it will be observed that both edges of the loop strap G are flared to form a dished-shape circular band about the axis X--X which shape extends completely around said strap until it terminates into: the abutting faces G and G This formation of the loop strap constitutes an important feature of the present invention since it allows the rope to slip freely through the contracted center portion of the loop withoutdanger of cutting at the J strap edges. Such corrugation of the strap furthermore imparts increased stiffness to the 1001 r re an p ts undue de ormation or gripping of the rope when subjected to a lateralthrust;

Figs- 7 and 8, Sh w mo ific t on o the loop strap construction in that plural corrugations withthe furrows G and G surrounding the loopaxis XfX, are formed in the sheet metal strap Gr. Such doublev corrugation admits of using thinner sheet metal for the loop strap without sacrifice of structural stifine'ss. The described corrugations also serve to augment the desired spring action when bringing the abutments G and G into engagement while entering the clinch prongs into the keeper plate H.

A further modification in detail of con:

struction relating to the foot flange, is

shown in Fig. 9. It will be apparent that] i the same result in fastening .the' loop strap.

G to the fabric A may be attained by the use of a single foot. flange G In'thismodified design, the clinch prong Gr is formed integral with the flange Gr in the manner previously described, while the complementary prong G may then be formed as a direct extension of the' abutment Gr without need of a second foot flange.

Either of the described methods for forming the foot flange, admits of making the flange element integral with the loop. strap G, and this makes for an inexpensiveand substantial guide clasp structure. In this improved construction, an extended integral portion of the loop strap is mounted against the adjacent face of the fabric and this eliminates the separate additional keepertype of plate commonly required for this purpose. present device constitutes an extremely simple means for securely attaching loop straps to fabrics or other materials of any kind It will be seen therefore, that the set forth, since various changes in the details of my device may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention, hereto-fore described and more particularly set forth in the appended claims:

1. A guide device comprising a loop strap of circular contour having the ends thereof formed into abutments adapted to close said loop, said strap being corrugated to provide a furrow surrounding the loop axis and extending between said abutments, and an integral foot flange for each of the respective abutments, substantially as described.

2. A guide device comprisingl an open loop strap of circular con-tour aving the ends thereof formed into abutments adapted to close said loop when sprung together, said strap being corrugated to provide a furrow surrounding the loo-p axis, a foot flange for each of the respective abutments, a clinch prong for each of said flanges, and a keeper plate adapted to engage with said prongs and hold said loop strap in a sprung relation, substantially as described.

3. A guide device comprising a loop strap of circular contour having the ends thereof formed into abutments adapted to close said loop, said strap being corrugated to provide a furrow surrounding the loop axis, a foot flange for one of said abutments, a clinch prong formed integral with each of said abutments, and a keeper plate adapted to engage with said prongs, substantially as described.

4. A guide device for 'a fabric comprising a loop strap of circular contour having the ends thereof formed into ab-utments adapted to close said loop, a foot flange formed integral with one of said abutments and adapted to be disposed upon one side of the fabric, a clinch prong for said flange adapted to extend through said fabric, and a keeper plate for the opposite side of said fabric adapted to engage said prong for the purpose of fastening said flange to the fabric, substantially as described.

5. A guide device for a fabric comprising a resilient loop strap of circular contour having the ends thereof formed into abutments adapted to close said loop when sprung together, an integral foot flange for each of the respective abutments, a clinch prong for each of said flanges, a keeper plate adapted to engage said prongs and hold said strap in a sprung relation, substantially as described.

6. A guide device for a fabric comprising a loop strap of circular contour having the ends thereof formed into abutments adapted to close said loop, a foot flange formed integral with each of the respective abutments and adapted to be disposed upon one side of the fabric, a clinch prong for each of said flanges adapted to extend through said fab ric, a keeper plate on the opposite side of said fabric adapted to engage said prongs for the purpose of fastening said flanges to the fabric, substantially as described.

7. A guide device for a fabric comprising a resilient 100p strap of circular contour having the ends thereof formed into abutments adapted to close said loop when sprung together, an integral foot flange for each of the respective abutments disposed in a common plane and adapted to be positioned upon one side of the fabric, a clinch prong for each of said flanges adapted to extend through said fabric, a keeper plate for the opposite side of said fabric adapted to engage said prongs and hold the abutments in a closed relation, substantially as described.

8. In combination with an awning or shade, having a flexible fabric, a guide device eomprising a loop strap of circular contour with ends thereof formed into abutments to close said loop, an integral foot flange for each of the respective abutments disposed upon one side of the fabric, a clinch prong for each said foot flanges extending through said fabric, and a keeper plate on the opposite side of said fabric adapted to engage said prongs for fastening said flanges to the fabric, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof, I have herewith set my hand this 13th day of July 1923.

DANIEL M. WINANS. Witnesses NORMAN A. Born, A. E. GRIFFIN. 

